Chapter 23
ROZI
By the seventy-two-hour mark, the evidence was undeniable. Logan’s tremors had completely disappeared. Most importantly, his neural scans showed complete regeneration of the pathways that had been deteriorating.
“It worked,” I breathed, staring at the final test results. “It actually worked.” The words seemed inadequate for the magnitude of what we’d accomplished.
My hands trembled as I gripped the test results.
A wave of dizziness washed over me, the physical manifestation of hope realized after years of searching.
Behind my sternum, an expanding warmth spread outward, like sunlight breaking through clouds after a lifetime of rain.
I’d chased this moment through countless failed experiments, sleepless nights, and professional ridicule.
Now it was here, and my body didn’t know how to contain it.
Brody must have sensed the emotions overwhelming me. He pulled me into his arms, lifting me off my feet in an exuberant embrace and spinning me around the lab. “You did it,” he whispered against my hair. “You found the cure.”
“We did it,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck, my body pressed against his in a way that made it difficult to remember we weren’t alone. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
The love shining in his eyes made my breath catch.
He kissed me then, right there in the lab, a kiss filled with such joy and pride that I forgot everything else for a moment.
He framed my face with his hands as if I were something infinitely precious, his lips moving over mine with a tenderness that made my heart ache.
Logan cleared his throat loudly. “Uh, guys? Still here.”
I pulled back, but not apologetic. Brody kept his arm firmly around my waist as I turned to face our test subject, his hand splayed possessively across my hip.
“So, Doc,” Logan said, grinning at our display. “Does this mean I’m officially cured?”
I extracted myself slightly from Brody’s embrace, though I kept my hand firmly in his.
“The data confirms complete neural stability,” I said, unable to keep the smile from my face.
“All indicators suggest a permanent integration of your human and animal consciousness. In layman’s terms, yes, your pre-feral symptoms are cured. ”
“But,” Brody added, his tone serious though his eyes remained warm, “this isn’t a substitute for finding your fated mate. The serum stabilizes what the feral progression threatens to destroy, but only your true mate can complete you in the way you’re meant to be completed.”
“It gives you time without the ticking clock of pre-feral progression,” I explained. “Freedom to find your mate without the threat of losing yourself in the process.”
Logan nodded, understanding dawning in his expression. “So Freya’s spell might still bring my fated mate to the Ridge?”
“That’s the hope,” I confirmed. “The serum and the spell working together, science and magic in harmony.”
Logan’s smile was incandescent. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted. A chance to find her, whoever she is, without the fear of going feral before she arrives.”
The celebration that followed was emotional and chaotic. Logan kept staring at his steady hands in wonder. Brody called Quinn with the news, putting him on speaker so we could all hear his reaction.
“That’s incredible.” Quinn’s voice boomed through the lab. “How soon can you scale up production for the other unmated males in the Ridge?”
“We can begin immediately,” I replied, already mentally calculating quantities and processes. Brody squeezed my hand, a silent reminder that I wasn’t doing this alone anymore. “With the Brewstillery equipment, we should be able to produce enough serum for all seventeen cases within a week.”
“Make it a priority,” Quinn said, his relief evident even through the phone. “And speaking of priorities, I’ve got some news of my own. The OIA just contacted me.” There were several beats of silence. “They’ve arrested Tabia Dhahabu.”
The lab went suddenly silent. I felt Brody pull me closer, his body instinctively moving to protect me as the words sank in. My grandmother. Arrested. After all these years.
“Arrested?” I finally managed. “For what?”
“Multiple charges,” Quinn replied. “Conspiracy to commit murder—yours, specifically. Corporate espionage. Illegal experimentation on shifters without consent. The list goes on. The OIA has been building a case against her for years, but the assassination attempt on you was the final piece they needed.”
The words hit me like a physical blow, my grandmother’s betrayal a knife twisting in my gut.
A bitter, metallic taste flooded my mouth as bile rose in my throat.
The lab seemed to tilt beneath my feet, colors bleeding together as the edges of my vision darkened.
The woman whose blood ran through my veins had deemed me disposable.
I sank onto a nearby stool, legs suddenly unable to support me.
My hands went cold, fingers tingling with the onset of shock.
Through the roaring in my ears, I was dimly aware of Brody kneeling beside me, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back, his eyes never leaving my face.
His warmth against my sudden chill was the only thing keeping me anchored to reality.
“I don’t know what to say,” I whispered, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears.
“There’s more,” Quinn continued. “With Tabia in custody and facing what amounts to a life sentence, control of Dhahabu Pharmaceuticals reverts to you as her only living relative. The OIA is already preparing the paperwork. Congratulations, Rozi, you’re about to become the CEO of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies specializing in Others medicine. ”
The news hit me like a physical blow. Dhahabu Pharmaceuticals, the company that had profited from shifter suffering, that had built its empire on treatments that stripped away half of what made Others who they were… And now it was mine? The irony was too perfect, too terrible.
“I need time to process this,” I said, my voice sounding distant to my own ears. My grandmother’s empire. My inheritance. My burden.
“Of course,” Quinn replied. “Take all the time you need. But, Rozi? This could be an opportunity to transform something harmful into something healing. Just like you did with the serum.”
After we ended the call, the lab fell silent again.
Logan excused himself, sensing the private nature of my shock.
Brody stayed close, his presence a steady comfort as I tried to make sense of this unexpected turn.
My head spun with possibilities, with fears, with the weight of the legacy I’d spent my life running from.
“A company with Tabia’s reputation,” I finally said, shaking my head. “How could I possibly…”
Brody tilted my chin up, making me meet his gaze.
“If anyone can transform it, it’s you,” he said, his voice carrying absolute conviction.
“Think about it, Rozi. You’ve spent your career fighting against what Dhahabu Pharmaceuticals represents.
Now you have the power to change it from the inside out. ”
I searched his face, finding nothing but unwavering belief. “It would mean restructuring everything. New research priorities, new ethical guidelines, new approaches to treatment.”
“Yes,” he agreed, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch lingering on my cheek. “And who better to lead that transformation than the woman who just developed a cure that preserves shifters’ complete identities instead of stripping them away?”
“It’s too big,” I argued, panic clawing up my throat.
My hands trembled as I paced the hardwood floor.
“Dhahabu Pharmaceuticals has over three thousand employees, operations in twenty-seven countries, and billions in assets. Tabia built that empire on suffering and exploitation. What if—” My voice broke.
“What if I can’t change it? What if it changes me instead? ”
The fear I’d been running from my entire life reared its ugly head. “What if I become her?”
“You won’t,” Brody said, stepping into my path. His eyes blazed with certainty.
“You don’t know that.” I shoved against his chest, needing space, needing air.
“My mother started with the best intentions too. She wanted to help people, to heal them. But her research consumed her. She chose test tubes over tucking me in at night. She chose pharmaceutical politics over being present for her own daughter.”
“I’m not letting you face this alone,” he growled, the alpha in his voice making my spine straighten despite myself.
“This isn’t your decision to make,” I snapped back, my cheetah rising to the challenge of his wolf. “I’m not some damsel who needs saving, Brody. I’ve been making my own choices for years without your input.”
His eyes flashed gold, the wolf pushing forward. “And I’ve been watching you build walls so high that no one can reach you for just as long. Running from connection doesn’t make you strong, Rozi. It makes you alone.”
His words stole the air from my lungs. Because deep down, in places I never let anyone see, I knew he was right. I’d been alone for so long, I’d convinced myself it was a choice, not a defense mechanism.
The simple truth of his words washed over me. I wasn’t alone. After years of building walls, of standing apart, of doing everything by myself, I had a partner. Someone who challenged me and supported me in equal measure.
“Together?” I asked. The word was both a question and an answer.
He pulled me into his arms, his hands framing my face with a tenderness that made my heart ache. “Rozi Dhahabu,” he said, his voice rough with emotion, “I spent so much time regretting the day I walked away from you. I won’t waste a single moment of this second chance we’ve been given.”
He kissed me then, not the quick, passionate kisses we’d shared throughout the day but something deeper, slower, a promise sealed with every gentle press of his lips against mine.
I melted into him, winding my arms around his neck as he pulled me closer, lifting me slightly off my feet.
The taste of him, coffee and mint and something uniquely Brody, filled my senses, drowning out everything but this moment, this connection, this love that had defied time and distance and hurt to find its way back to us.
When he finally pulled back, his smile was all the certainty I needed. His thumbs brushed away tears I hadn’t realized I’d shed.
“I love you,” he whispered, forehead pressed to mine, our breath mingling in the space between us. “All of you. The fierce cheetah and the stubborn woman who still won’t admit when I’m right.”
I laughed despite myself, the tension breaking. “Which happens approximately once a century.”
His answering grin was boyish, lighting up his face in a way that made him look years younger. My heart swelled with such love for this man—my fated mate, my partner, my home—that it felt too big for my chest to contain.
In that moment, surrounded by the proof of our breakthrough and facing a future neither of us could have imagined, I realized that some thresholds, once crossed, transformed not just our circumstances but ourselves.
The independent woman I’d been wasn’t gone.
She’d simply evolved into something more complete.
Just like the moss at the edge between water and earth, I’d found my perfect balance at the threshold between who I’d been and who I could become.
“I want to build something with you,” I said suddenly, the words tumbling out before I could analyze them to death. “Not just the pharmaceutical company or the serum production. A life. A future. Maybe even a family someday.”
His breath caught, his entire body going still beneath mine. Slowly, he tilted my chin up, his eyes searching mine with an intensity that made my heart race. “Are you sure?” The hope in his voice was almost painful to hear. “You’ve always valued your independence so much.”
“Independence was my armor,” I confessed, “not my dream.” I pressed my palm against his chest, feeling his heart pound beneath my touch. “My dream was always to matter enough to someone that they wouldn’t leave. To be essential, not optional.”
“Rozi,” he whispered, his voice breaking on my name. “You’re not just essential to me. You’re everything.”
With Brody beside me, with our research proven, with the means to help not just the Ridge but shifters worldwide, I was ready to step across this new threshold, not alone, but alongside the mate who’d proven that sometimes the greatest discoveries happened when you dared to trust your heart as much as your mind.
“So,” I said, my smile turning mischievous as I brushed my fingers over the edge of his claiming mark peeking above his collar, feeling the shiver that ran through him at my touch, “CEO Dhahabu and her wolf. Think the pharmaceutical world is ready for us?”
His answering grin was pure predator, his gray eyes gleaming with promise. He bent to brush his lips against my ear. “Not a chance in hell.”